The present specification relates to presenting enriched web pages and, in one particular example, to presenting information relevant to particular terms that occur in a web page.
Web pages may either be static HTML web pages, or dynamic web pages that are created at the server side when they are requested. Examples of dynamic web pages include web pages written in ASP, ASPX, or JSP.
Regardless of how the web pages are created, the content of these web pages will be either predetermined at the time of creation, such as in the case of static HTML web pages, or extracted dynamically from a database that may be updated frequently, such as in the case of ASP, ASPX or JSP server-side web pages. If the user wants to know additional details about particular terms that are included on the web page, these details are, in the typical case, not readily available. For example, when the user views a web page, comes across a place name “London” on the web page, and desires to know what time it is or what the current weather is in “London,” the user has no other choice but resort to a search engine or a specialized service provider for such detailed information.
A search engine provider, Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., has developed an “answer box” technology, known as OneBox, that has been available for several years. Using this technology, a set of web search features are offered that provide a quick and easy way for a search engine to provide users with information that is relevant to, or that answers, their search query. For example, a search engine may respond to a search query regarding everyday essential information, reference tools, trip planning information, or other information by returning, as the first search result, information responsive to the search query, instead of providing a link and a snippet for each of a number of relevant web pages that may contain information.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional answer box in a search result. The first item 101 in the list of search results is the information presented in an answer box for the search query “time London,” where the answer box is triggered by the term “time.” The search engine has inferred that the user may want to know the current local time in “London” and has therefore retrieved local time information for places that are called “London.”